AUCCRO sharply criticizes the policy of public broadcasting depriving the believers

On June 5, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations issued an open letter criticizing public broadcasting, signed by the presiding bishop of the AUCCRO, Oleksandr Zan-Fabian.

It states that in Ukraine there is no safe information space for the formation of the values ​​of family, goodness, patriotism, service to each other, building of a strong and healthy state. It is indicated that believers of Ukraine are deprived of worthy TVs broadcasts.

“We are saddened to observe that in the Ukrainian information space today the largest social group of Ukraine, the believers, is deprived. We believe that public service broadcasting is obliged to secure the information needs of this multimillion audience. In sociological terms, Ukraine is the country with the largest number of religious organizations in the post-Soviet area and in Europe. And these citizens are regular taxpayers to the state budget from which public broadcasting is financed. What do we have - one hour of television on a near-religious topic?” the open letter asks.

It emphasizes that a public broadcaster, first of all, should create a secure information space that will focus on the formation of a worldview with the values ​​of the family, goodness, patriotism, service to each other, and the building of a strong and healthy state, inherent in Ukraine and Ukrainians. However, the letter notes with dismay that reality is different.

Religious activists harshly criticized the fact that none of the TV  broadcasts and other information resources of the Public Broadcasting had reported a remarkable event - the All-Ukrainian March to protect the rights of children and families that took place on June 2, 2018, and gathered about 10,000 Kyivites and city guests. This event, religious leaders stress, was perhaps the largest manifestation of recent years, whose purpose was to draw the attention of society and the media to the issue of state family policy.

“Such a deliberate silence of the Public Broadcasting cannot be forgiven, which closes its eyes on such public actions in favor of a temporary state of affairs, or a dictates of an unconventional minority,” the statement said.

“We still have the hope that you will pay attention to this and will make every effort to remedy this situation in order to serve the interests of the multimillion audience of believers from different Churches and religious organizations and we will not have to resort to more decisive measures to protect our civil rights, freedom of expression without any discrimination, as guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine and Article 5 § 7 of the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” – ends the letter signed by the AUCCRO Chairman, Bishop Oleksandr Zan-Fabian, Head of the Consistory of the Transcarpathian Reformed Church.